[Trod Upon]

Interesting, but in the end it does little to change the analysis. Two or three, we still faced the invasion of Japan and the resultant deaths of millions.

[dvwjr]

Originally posted by Trod Upon:

"Interesting, but in the end it does little to change the analysis. Two or three, we still faced the invasion of Japan and the resultant deaths of millions."

I am not sure that the invasion of Japan would have taken place until more atomic bombs were dropped on Japan during the Fall and Winter of 1945.

"A third bomb was assembled on Tinian with payload to be shipped from New Mexico, estimated to arrival 24Aug, target Tokyo, when the war ended. Production was geared to seven per month with an expectation that 50 bombs would be required to assure that an invasion would not be required."

Source: WW2 Pacific: Little Known Facts: Atomic Bomb -- Allies

I think that the starvation of the Japanese population combined with the use of 35-50 atomic weapons might have delayed the costly invasion of Japan (Downfall) that has been planned by MacArthur. President Truman might have wished to save US lives by the use of 7-50 atomic bombs. The millions who then would have died would have been Japanese, not American.

Another unknown "what if", we will never know...

dvwjr